Cow's Milk

I've read a couple books lately on healthy eating and both stated that cow's milk is just that....for cow's. Actually, not even cows...it's for baby calfs. Our digestive system is not set up to handle cow's milk yet most of us consume it daily.

I've always wondered who was the first person to bend over, look under the cow and say, "I'm going to start sucking on those things and if it tastes good, I'm going to put it in my coffee.

In addition to being intended for an entirely differen species, cow's milk has to go through a processing and refining system known as pasteurization in order to make it safe to use for drinking and cooking. The fact that milk must be treated before human consumption should already be an indicator to you that it is not something you should regularly ingest.

The milk from a cow is designed for the specific purpose of adding several hundred pounds to the size of its offspring in a short period of time. In order to accomplish this enormous task, calve's milk is made up of a high percentage of large proteins. On the contrary, human breast milk was created with the goal of adding only a couple dozen pounds to children in a similar period of time. Therefore, human milk has a much lower concentration of protein and the size of the proteins is much smaller by comparison.

Just food for thought...so to speak!

Yeah. Humans are the only mammals that drink other animals' milk. Drink soy milk. It's better anyway.

Love soy milk!! <3

Love Silk Chocolate soy milk.... the best brand- In my opinion...

Agreed, i'm basically in love with Silk's light vanilla soymilk, but their chocolate is also amazing. 

Isn't soy milk intended for baby soy?

BTW who said milk had to pausterized?

Anyone ever try Rice Milk or Almond Milk? I'm thinking about buying some....

I looooove chocolate soy milk more than I ever remember enjoying chocolate cow milk. However, rice milk makes me turn up my nose. It tastes the same way that dry rice smells. I love the smell, can't take the taste. I'm weird like that.

I also love good old dairy. I grew up with the taste and like it, and I feel that it does hold nutritious value for man and beast. Sure, if it were all we ate (like a calf), we'd be HUGE and would not be getting the right nutrients, but as part of a diet I feel it's an okay thing. Though I too wonder who first thought that this would be a good idea....

i love rice and almond milk! shop around to find the ones you prefer (most everyone i talk to likes different brands). a good thing to remember is that they won't taste like anything else you drink so don't expect them to... rather, enjoy them for what they are. I recommend Blue Diamond Almond Breeze and the Rice Dream brand, though there are others too that I've had and liked. There is also oat milk, which is an unusual flavor that I enjoy from time to time.

I grew up in a farming family and one of my favorite things to do as a small child was help milk the cows and after we filled the tank we would take a big pitcher fresh from the cow and take into the house.  I remember making butter with this same cow milk oh not to mention cheese and cottage cheese.

I don't care for goat's milk but had a friend who swore by it.  I think there are alot of foods we consume that I wonder how did someone think to dig that root out of the ground and eat it - hence you get carrot and potatlos.  Some societies think nothing of eating spiders/ ants fish eyes - oh and fish eggs have got to be the worst call it cavier and its ok  oh and how about snails  Cow tongues, tripe, menundo all these things I will just say no to thank you very much, but I do love an occassional glass of milk to drink with my chocolate birthday cake or ice cream

Soy milk has its own issues.  Soy has a negative impact on thyroid function, if I remember correctly.

Also, humans are the only creatures that cook food, fly airplanes, and use computers, but that hardly makes these things bad for us or irrational.

Drink cow's milk in moderation.  So long as you arent drinking *like* a cow (or lactose intolerant) then what's the problem?

What marneedear said..

I think sometimes we get too caught up about what is good for you and what is bad and overreact a little

the only problem with it is the protein is hard for humans to digest.

anwear? Boil it first thus making it easier for our bodies to use the protein.

OR drink it cold, and feel full as your digestive enzymes get a challenege.

Curtisy of Dr.Gillen Mckeith & own research :)

Give me a nice cold glass of cows milk, none of the others can compare.

well marneedear, i did research on cow's milk in terms of it's health quality for people and it's not as great for you as everyone makes it out to be.

I'll stick with soy. It tastes better anyway.

It's controversial.  I drink milk and use dairy products from cows, goats and sheep's milk, every day and have never had any ill effects from them.  I even have a piece of buffalo milk mozzarella in the refrigerator.  There are societies where the people live to extreme old age and stay healthy too, and they all use dairy products. 

I drink soy, but i also drink milk.  I only drink organic milk however.  I recently was working on a project that looked at the potential of dairys to generate electricy from collecting all the cattle waste and covering it so they can harvest the biogas.  Some dairy farmers who impliment biogas programs make much more money from selling the excess electricity to local utilities then they make on the milk itself.  Its kind of strange to think milk is merely a bioproduct.  Nonetheless its better for the environment, and I think a lot of animal production in the future will be secondary to the collection of biogases. 

Its pretty cool

htide

Claire that is true.  I lived in west africa for awhile and there is a nomatic tribe called fulani who raise all the cattle in the region.  They use the cattle primarily for milk and cheese, only slaughtering them when they get old or sick.  The cheese they make is called wagasi and it is dipped in plant extracts so it last days.  Beside the fact that it is SOOO good, you can fry it and it doesnt melt.  They cook it in meals similar to the way you use tofu.  It kind of takes on the flavor of what your cooking.  Its been a mainstay, and their primary source of protein in the region for thousands of years.

One of the perks of being a human, you get to eat or drink from pretty much any plant or animal you want ^_^v !

I agree that cow's milk isnt as good for you as everyone thinks it is.  There is new research, (a good book to read on this is The China Study) but you can find it on the internet anyway... But there is reasearch that cows milk could cause cancer because of the fact that it is intended to help baby calfs grow fast.  Those growth factors could cause unintended growth in our own cells (breast) and therefore causing cancer.  When I get the time (not right now) I will post more info on this. 

i dont play attation to newspaper studies, its most likly from a 'soy milk' compony like Alpro trying to get new customers.

OR you have to drink like 2 pints a day for 3 years to be affected! Stuides are controlled experiments and normaly do not apply to normal every day lifestyles.